Background: In Sweden, social workers are responsible for identifying, assessing, and supporting victims of violence among people with and without disabilities. Research has shown that people with cognitive disabilities are more likely to become victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) than non-disabled people. Some reasons for the high rates of victimization that people with cognitive disabilities have reflect a dependence on others in everyday activities, limited access to adapted communication, and lack of education about the victimization of IPV for this group among professionals and social workers. Yet, there are no official disability-adapted assessments to support this work. Very few studies explore the type of adaptations needed to identify and assess the risk of violence against this group. Therefore, this study aims to explore how social workers identify and assess victims of IPV with cognitive disabilities.
Method: An explorative and qualitative design using focus group interviews with five groups of social workers was conducted. Each group contained three to five social workers employed either at a municipality’s social services or NGO and having experience working with people with cognitive disabilities or IPV. Group discussions were led through six topics prompting participants to describe their experiences working with people with cognitive disabilities who are victims of IPV.
Results: Preliminary results point to both challenges and good examples of the practices concerning identification, assessment, and support of victimization among people with cognitive disabilities focusing on the resources at different types of organizations to meet the needs of this group. Local adaptions of government-recommended assessment tools such as adding picture support or verbally elaborating definitions of IPV were common. Some difficulties in cooperation between and within institutions were also described.
Conclusion: Final results and conclusions will be presented at the NNDR research conference in May 2023.